


Daichi Rarepair Week 2017

by ryankellycc



Series: Daichi Rarepair Week 2017 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Awkward Crush, Established Relationship, F/F, Gen, Insecurity, M/M, Sibling Rivalry, Tanaka in a uniform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, alisa is an actual angel, arcade for adults, college volleyball, don't go to suga for dating advice, ennoshita is sassy, love that canon can be considered an AU, pets are kids y'all, supportive Tanaka, thirsty daichi, will add tags/warnings as the week progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:27:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9657452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryankellycc/pseuds/ryankellycc
Summary: Collection of prompts for Daichi rarepair week. Seventh prompt posted separately.1. Injury (Doctor, your giant crush is showing.)2. Stars (Suga says stargazing.)3. Video Games (Come here often?)4. Pets (It's just one weekend, guys.)5. Dreams (What dreams are made of.)6. Rivalry (Are all siblings like this?)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All fics will be posted here AND on my [tumblr](http://jellyryans.tumblr.com/)! Thanks for reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, so excited! DAICHI RAREPAIR WEEK LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!
> 
> It's painfully obvious, but everything I know about hospitals comes from watching Scrubs during my formative years and it might be awful. Sorry. Warning for mentions of stabbing, injury, blood, and medical jargon that is WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE.

“Alright, alright, quit your yapping and focus,” Ukai grumbled. 

He stood next to a hospital bed, both hands in the square pockets of his white coat. The group of interns splayed in front of him stared with wide eyes and Daichi could almost hear their knees knocking from where he stood at the nurse’s station. “Our next joker here...” 

He was interrupted by a delicate cough from down the hall and his shoulders tensed as he looked over the shoulders of quivering mass of young people and locked eyes with Takeda Ittetsu, the thorough and devoted chief of medicine, who smiled, and Daichi didn’t have to follow Ukai’s line of vision to know the exact look that made Ukai shiver.. “Fine,” Ukai corrected himself, “tell me about our next patient, um, Yachi.” 

There was a loud squeak from deep in the group of interns and Ukai tapped his foot as Yachi pushed her way to the front. “Tanaka Ryuunosuke, um, knife wound to the shoulder?”

Ukai motioned for her to continue, and she glanced at the guy in the bed, who waggled his eyebrows. She smiled brightly and squared her shoulders. “T-Tanaka-san underwent emergency surgery to repair damage to the brachial artery. Primary repair was successful and, um, continuity was achieved. We’re watching him for potential nerve damage and infection.”

“He’s currently Daichi-san’s patient,” Yachi added. Tanaka gave her a thumbs-up and cheered silently, the memory of what happened when he interrupted Ukai’s rounds the day before obviously still fresh in his mind. Daichi held the first piece of paper he could find to muffle his laughter, because he remembered, from years ago, what happened when someone cut into Ukai’s time.

“Good,” Ukai nodded at Yachi, then he checked his watch and jerked his thumb down the hall, toward the next patient on their list. He turned around without a word and the group shuffling behind him like a single entity. 

Daichi watched them leave. He wasn’t sure he had the words to express how grateful he was not to be an intern anymore. Rounds were stressful, nights were long, and tears were plenty. He was finally at the point where he got his own patients. Patients like Tanaka Ryuunosuke, who was happily showing something off to Ennoshita, the head nurse, as the nurse adjusted the IV in his arm.

Tanaka was rushed to the emergency room with a stab wound four days earlier and, post-op, he was thrown into Daichi’s care. The surgery had gone smoothly, despite the knife having nicked his artery, and despite the injury and blood loss, Tanaka had somehow dragged himself to the hospital, collapsing in the lobby. Daichi never got the full story, just enough for him to do his job.

But, that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious. He was probably some sort of drug dealer, or a member of a gang, or delinquent thrill-seeker, or something, while Daichi was a guy who didn’t remember what it felt like to not study for eighty hours a week, who had chosen this path over so many other, who had, unexpectedly, found himself with a problematic crush. 

“Once you’re done staring, you might want to go check on him. He just ripped his bandage trying to flex for me and I know you like to do it yourself.”

Ennoshita’s stealthy approach and sleepy monotone unnerved Daichi, so much so that he almost fell out of his chair. “Right, hey,” Daichi coughed. “And, uh, it’s not that I like doing it, I’m just observing, the, uh healing. The process and stitches.”

“Wow,” Ennoshita deadpanned. “Your fancy doctor talk is truly impressive. You sure you’re only a senior resident?”

Daichi knew when he had been beat. He got up from the desk, nodded at Ennoshita, and crossed the hall to lean in the doorway of Tanaka’s room. 

“Sawamura-san! Doc!” Tanaka shouted. He turned in the bed so quickly that it tipped and Daichi rushed in to steady the metal frame. “Was wondering when you’d come see me,” he winked.

“Hey, Tanaka,” Daichi smiled back, hand firmly on the bedrail. He ignored the way his heart squeezed when Tanaka grinned at him, all teeth and dimpled cheeks. “How’re you feeling today?”

“Good,” Tanaka replied brightly. “Great, actually! I’m pretty famous, you know, with those groups of kids coming to ooh and ahh over me and all. That Yachi’s getting much more confident, which makes sense, you know, because you guys are all a bunch of nerds,” he teased.

Daichi logged into the mounted computer by the bed and tried his hardest to not look at Tanaka while he rambled. The glow on Tanaka’s face when he gloated was annoying, and Daichi was annoyed that he wasn’t annoyed, and he tried to avoid it altogether. “Mhm,” he hummed into the screen, “famous, huh? Maybe for being the hospital idiot.”

“Hey!” Tanaka said sadly. “I’m wounded! And you sound like the big blonde doctor dude. But c’mon.” He scooted to the side of his bed, close enough to Daichi that he could almost feel the warmth from Tanaka’s skin through his scrubs. “What would you guys do without my charm?”

He didn’t have a good answer to Tanaka’s question so, instead, he chastised him. “Ennoshita told me that you ripped your bandage again. That’s twice today. Hence, hospital idiot.”

Tanaka raised his hands in surrender, but dropped them almost immediately with a sharp hiss. He pouted and looked at Daichi, face tight and screwed up, obviously trying to mask the pain. 

“That’s what you get for moving around like you do. Now let’s take a look at your shoulder.” Daichi sighed, motioning for Tanaka to sit up so he could untie the back of his hospital gown and roll it down. As his fingers ghosted Tanaka’s skin and the deep brown of his skin was unearthed, Daichi sent a silent prayer into the universe. Please help me keep it together, he pleaded. 

Tanaka shifted with a little difficulty, but the smirk grew on his face. “I’ve been meaning to ask… Isn’t this the nurse’s job? Or do you just like what you see?”

Daichi whacked him lightly in the head, but it was true When Ennoshita had asked the first time, Daichi told him it was good practice. His fingertips ghosted over the muscle corded around Tanaka’s shoulder and his eyes traced the dip of his sharp collarbone. He was mesmerized, as always, by the tiny bumps that formed in the cold hospital air. Yeah, he thought, good practice. 

He was so deeply immersed in his thoughts and the expanse of skin in front of him that, for the second time in the last hour, someone caught him by surprise. Tanaka poked the side of his head and Daichi swatted his hand away.

“What?” Daichi asked reprovingly.

“I can almost hear those smart doctor wheels turning in your head,” Tanaka motioned to his own temples with his index finger. 

Daichi finished wrapping Tanaka’s shoulder, with something that felt dangerously like disappointment. “Thinking about your chart,” Daichi lied. Well, he reasoned, he had been thinking about Tanaka’s chart at some point. And he had a job to do, teenage crush mumbo-jumbo or not. “I saw that you refused pain medication today. How’re you feeling?

“Fine, fine,” Tanaka waved it off with his uninjured arm. 

“Do you want any meds?” Daichi asked carefully. 

Tanaka thought about it. “Nah,” he said. “I’ll tough it out.”

Daichi nodded. They had this fight before, and Tanaka insisted that pain medication made him seem less manly, and that it would be a travesty. Daichi tried arguing, but Tanaka never budged, and it occurred to Daichi that he really knew nothing about the guy. And it weighed on him. “Okay, well, if you change your mind, which would be fine,” Daichi emphasized, “you know where the buzzer is to ring the nurse.”

“Who’s on today?” Tanaka asked quickly, suddenly alert. 

“Shimizu’s not on tonight,” Daichi warned.

Tanaka sunk into the sheets and pulled the blanket up to his chin with his uninjured arm. “You think if I cry and scream and wail for her, she’ll come to my aid?” He asked, and, in a hopeful, higher voice, that Daichi assumed was supposed to be Shimizu, he clasped his hands in front of him and cooed. “Ryuu, I’m here for you, here, hold my dainty and glorious hand and shower kisses upon it…”

Daichi couldn’t help the rolling laughter that spilled out of his chest and, when Tanaka saw it, he laughed too, and they laughed together. Daichi wished he could keep moments like these. “You know that, even if she was here, she’d ignore you.”

“Ah, but I love it when she ignores me,” Tanaka replied wistfully, the tears of laughter fresh on his face. “I guess Ennoshita will have to do. He’s not bad on the eyes,” Tanaka shrugged.

Daichi choked on the spit in the back of his throat. Guys, huh? That was a thought. Daichi bit his tongue and reminded himself of his place. “Better not let him hear you say that. He might withhold your food again.”

Tanaka moaned into his hands. “Again? Is that why I was so freaking hungry the other night?”

“You did ask if Ennoshita would fluff your pillow five times in as many minutes,” Daichi pointed out.

“Okay, I kinda deserved that,” Tanaka admitted with a snort.

Daichi knew he couldn’t stay much longer, that his time with Tanaka was running out. He hated these moments, the ones where the total idiocy of his situation, an impossible, unprofessional, irrational crush, hit him hard. He was just about to excuse himself when a kid came crashing into the room, pushed past Daichi, and jumped on Tanaka’s bed.

“Ryuu!” He cried. 

“Yuu! Buddy! My man!” 

Daichi took a couple steps back and was about to call security when Tanaka embraced the jumping bean in his bed with a sob. They cried into each other’s arms and Daichi got a good look at the kid. Turns out, the guy wasn’t a kid, just small and lean, with a prominent tuft of bleached hair and a wide variety of piercings, tattoos, and scars. Daichi cleared his throat and, when they both looked over, noses running and eyes red, he took his leave.

“Thanks doc,” Tanaka said with a lopsided grin. 

His friend, Yuu, eyed him briefly and gave him a mock salute. 

When Daichi left the room, he stopped at the nurse’s station leaned on the counter, right out of view but close enough that he could eavesdrop on their conversation. He just wanted to make sure Yuu wasn’t some drug dealer or troublemaker, that Tanaka would be okay. It was a totally natural thing, right?

Ennoshita looked up from the computer with tired eyes, his hair clipped back and a stack of paperwork at his elbow. “Need something?”

“Ah, no,” Daichi said. 

“So you’re just standing at my station?” 

For lack of a better excuse, and not wanting to give his presence away, he nodded. Ennoshita glared at him, but accepted it with a heavy sigh and started typing again. Daichi leaned on his elbows and tuned into the voices coming from Tanaka’s room. 

They talked in rapid fire succession about people he didn’t know, places he had never been too, and bands he had never heard about. There didn’t seem to anything sketchy going on, and Daichi felt guilty trespassing on Ennoshita’s patience more than he had to, and he was about to leave, really, but Tanaka shushed Yuu so loudly that it reverberated in the walls. 

“Dude! Not so loud!”

“Nah dude, you got it so bad, you’re blushing like a bride on her wedding night! I cannot let this go.”

“I know!” Tanaka whined. “It’s fucking embarrassing! I can’t help it. It’s like, he comes near me, and I have to take off my clothes. I might even rip my bandages on purpose.”

Daichi inched closer to the wall, until he was right up against it. 

“You’re pathetic,” Yuu laughed. 

“Well, I gotta get my kicks when I can, ya know? What am I gonna do, ask him out?” 

“Wait,” Yuu stopped. “You’ve actually thought about it?” 

Tanaka laughed without humor. “Since the moment he greeted for the first time in his deep, manly doctor voice and told me I looked good.”

“He was probably just talking about your gaping wound, dude.”

The room went quiet for a couple minutes. Then, Tanaka started talking. “He probably thinks i’m some deadbeat drug dealer or gang banger or something. I mean, who else gets fucking stabbed in an alleyway and passes out in a hospital lobby?”

“Fuck, Ryuu,” Yuu said quietly, almost too quietly for Daichi to hear through the wall. “You didn’t tell him how you got stabbed?”

“Nah, not really important.”

“Not important? Those fucking assholes threatened your sister.”

“Yeah, and who’s the dumbass that tries to pick a fight with guys with knives? Idiots who aren’t good enough to date doctors.”

Daichi was now right around the corner, gripping the edge of the wall.

“No, no. You might be a dumbass, don’t get me wrong, but you’re a dumbass that loves his sister and if some hoity-toity doctor thinks he’s too good for you,” Yuu choked. “Just, don’t ever fucking do that again.” His voice shook with every word. 

“Hey Yuu,” Tanaka whispered. 

“Yeah?” 

“You’re a pretty crier.”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!” 

The voices dissolved into laughter, the bed creaked with the weight of two full-grown men, and Daichi thought he heard someone get smacked in the head with a pillow. With a deep breath, he pushed away from the wall and walked past the nurse’s station as casually as he could. 

Ennoshita glanced up just in time to catch a glimpse of the skip in the doctor's step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First one down, six to go! Hooray! Hope you enjoyed! I edited this at 1am so hopefully it's alright!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Daichi and Tanaka's six month anniversay and Tanaka goes to the wrong person for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day two prompt: stars. Set in something like canon universe?? Wha??

Tanaka walked down the hall, chest puffed and teeth bared, to the third year classrooms, burdened with glorious, if not slightly nerve-wracking purpose. He stopped in front of a familiar classroom and peeked into the room, empty except for a head of blonde hair, unruly cowlick bouncing as he scribbled something quickly in a notebook. 

He knocked on the doorframe and strode into the room, swinging his legs over the chair in front of Suga’s desk and resting his chin on the back of the chair. Suga was not at all perturbed by the intrustion and he finished writing in his school book with a dramatic flourish before closing it and making eye contact with Tanaka. “So?”

“I’ve got nothing,” Tanaka said. He puffed out his cheeks and blew air over his lips.

Suga shook his head and laughed, which might’ve been comforting to the average Karasuno student, but Tanaka knew better. Suga had a wide variety of chuckles, and Tanaka had a feeling this one was less jovial and more… predatory.

“I’ve been thinking all week and it’s just too much pressure.”

“You guys have been dating for six months and now you’re getting cold feet?” Suga joked. 

Tanaka jumped out of the chair and grabbed Suga’s shoulders, then thought better of it. He let go, took a step back, and bowed low. “Please help me impress Daichi-san for our six month anniversary, Suga-senpai!”

He stayed bent until he heard Suga clap his hands. Even then, he didn’t stand up until Suga rubbed the top of his head with more force than necessary.

“So you’ll help me?” Tanaka pleaded.

Suga led him back to the chair he was sitting in and pushed him into it. “Come now,” he cooed. “What kind of senpai would I be if I didn’t? Now remind me when the special day is?”

“This weekend. Saturday,” Tanaka added. “He has some sort of university interview thing in the morning, so we’re meeting at night.”

“Okay, well, it’s Monday, so you have a week to figure out what you’re going to do for our beloved captain for your six month anniversary,” Suga summarized. “What else you got?” 

“What? Nothing else? I don’t know!” Tanaka put his head in his hands and groaned. He hadn’t been nervous about the date until Suga laid it out like that. 

He liked to think he was a cool, collected, if not somewhat excitable guy, but he was really losing it. Every situation he ran through his head, even when it seemed like it would be awesome and perfect, like he would sweep Daichi off his feet, everything crashed and burned when the reality of who he was dating struck him like a lead pipe. Daichi was the best. The best captain. The best friend. The best guy, and, when push came to shove, Tanaka was still a little baffled that he and Daichi had even made it this far.

“I’ve got it!” Suga said, and, when Tanaka looked up from the comfort of his palms, a cold chill settled deep in his bones. Suga’s face lit up the way it did right before he broke your skin with his fists.

Tanaka was almost too afraid to ask, but he fully admitted to being a hundred years out of his league and he absolutely man enough to accept whatever help Suga had to give. “Oh yeah?”

“Well, Daichi and I just did a unit on astronomy in class, and he was SUPER into it, so why don’t you go star-gazing and wow him with some knowledge?” 

“My knowledge?” Tanaka repeated. He had a lot of obvious, amazing qualities, but school stuff wasn’t really up there on the list.

“Yes,” Suga confirmed with glittering eyes. “You could point out constellations and teach Daichi a thing or two. He’d be really into that. Just make sure it’s a surprise. He’ll be over the moon.” Suga laughed at himself. “Moon, get it?” He asked between snorts. 

Tanaka laughed, too, but it came out as more of a gurgle. “Yeah. Funny stuff, Suga-san, but do you really think he’d want to do that? I didn’t know he was into that... stuff.” 

“I do,” Suga nodded.

“Oh.” He hoped his voice didn’t betray the nervous energy that crackled through his veins. They had been dating for six months and he had no idea Daichi was into science, or moons, or stars, or whatever, and then he started thinking about all the smart things Daichi was into, and about how ill-equipped he was to impress Daichi with anything that wasn’t about volleyball, or being late to school. He knew he was out of his league, but it suddenly felt like he was at the bottom of the ocean, getting crushed to death by the pressure. He threw his hands up in the air. “But I don’t know anything about astrology.”

“Astronomy,” Suga corrected. “Luckily, you have a whole week to learn, right?” 

Tanaka took another breath to slow his heart rate. “Right, a week, good,” he muttered. 

Students started streaming back into the room, so Tanaka told Suga he’d see him at practice later and darted out of the room before a certain captain noticed he was there. 

“Good luck!” Suga called after him.

Back at the second-year classrooms, he leaned against the wall next to his door instead of entering the room. A shadow hovered over his heart, the same one that hit him when a spike was blocked, or when one of his teammates was too hard on himself, or when Nishinoya was suspended. 

He closed his eyes tightly, so tightly that he saw white, and then opened them again. It might be the same shadow, but te didn’t let it get to him on the court, and he sure as hell wouldn’t let it get to him now. Suga was right. He had a whole week to prepare, to make sure he was the most amazing boyfriend Daichi could ever want, and dammit, he would. Tanaka slammed his fist into his palm and the smack of skin echoed down the hallway and through the crowd of students returning to their rooms.

That night, after practice, Tanaka paced back and forth in his room, hands clasped behind his back. He cleared his throat to address the crowd. “Gentlemen, brave Karasuno warriors, I’ve gathered you all here for a very important reason.”

“Important... Like the English test we have in two days?” Ennoshita asked. 

Tanaka stopped pacing. “We have a test on Wednesday?” He croaked.

“We’ve been reminding you all week,” Narita pointed out.

Tanaka looked over at Nishinoya, who had paled considerably. Sweat shone on his temples and Tanaka wasn’t going to lie, the collar of his own shirt felt suspiciously damp. He swallowed hard. “Okay, well, yes, that’s important too, and we’ll get to that, but this -” 

“Ryuu!!” Saeko shouted from down the hall. She approached the room and leaned in the doorway. “What do you want, oh,” Saeko paused when she saw the small crowd of second-years seated on the floor in Tanaka’s room and she bit back a grin. “Having a little party, Ryuu?”

Before Tanaka was able to push his sister out of the room, Nishinoya had jumped up and gotten between them. “Saeko nee-san!” 

She mussed Nishinoya’s hair. “Yuu! Everyone! What brings you all to my humble abode?”

Narita answered without paying any attention to Tanaka trying to shush him. “Tanaka is trying to get ready for his six month anniversary date with Daichi-san and needs our help.” 

“Oh-kay,” Tanaka clapped. “That’s enough, Saeko, get out,” he said as tried to push her out of the door. 

She slipped out of Tanaka’s grasp with practiced ease and sidled up between Kinoshita and Ennoshita. Her eyes glowed and she rubbed her hands together, the metal clinking of her rings filled the room. “So… My handsome little brother is still with swarthy Captain-kun? Nice!”

“Oh my god, nee-san, don’t say those kinds of things! And get out of my room!” Tanaka cried. 

She paid him no heed and got comfortable on the floor with the rest of the second-years, crossing her legs and tossing an arm casually around Ennoshita’s neck. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed dryly, earning him a sharp glare from Nishinoya and an open stare from Narita. 

Tanaka supposed the torture made sense. He was going to have to work as hard as he could, stoop as low as he could go, embarrass the hell out of himself, but it would all be worth it. Daichi-san was worth it. That was a no-brainer.

“Fine,” he conceded, and started over again. “You’re all gathered here today to help me learn about stars and shit so that I can impress Daichi-san on our date on Saturday night.”

Much to Tanaka’s surprise, or to his friend’s credit, he didn’t get nearly as much crap as he thought. In fact, Saeko immediately proclaimed herself the manager and she divided up the labor among the second-years. Ennoshita and Kinoshita took astronomy as their elective the year before, so they would help Tanaka learn constellations. Narita lived close by and knew a great park where he took his younger siblings on the weekend, so he would help with location. Nishinoya was given the role of group and personal moral support, so he ran around the group and gave everyone a double-handed high-five. 

Tanaka surveyed his makeshift team with pride. It felt a little like he was flying, at least until Ennoshita’s reminder about their impending test sent them all crashing back to earth. 

The test came and went, and Tanaka wasn’t surprised to find out that he failed it, but he took comfort in the fact that Nishinoya also failed it, so he would have a buddy in remedial classes the week after. He had been too busy to really study, anyway. Tests came and went, but impressing your impossible boyfriend on your six-month anniversary was a once and done deal.

Ennoshita and Kinoshita had given him their constellation maps and flashcards and he had spent at least an hour going over them every day, before school, on the way to morning practice, and after school, when he finished cleaning up after dinner with Saeko. Narita showed him the park and helped him look up exactly which constellations would be available on Saturday night. Nishinoya kept up with all of them with his usual amount of energy.   
And, just like that, the week was over. It was Saturday evening and adrenaline pumped through his system, like it did right before a match, and, when it was time to go, he grabbed his bike, took one last look at the list of constellations that they’d be able to see from the park, and rode into the night. 

Daichi was already there, in the park, one hand in his pocket and the other clasped around his phone. He noticed that Daichi’s leg was bouncing, the way it did when he was nervous, and Tanaka bit back a huge grin. It hadn’t occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, Daichi, their unflappable captain, was nervous, too. 

“Hey, Daichi-san!” Tanaka shouted from park entrance. He locked up his bike and joined Daichi in the middle of the park.

When Tanaka reached him, Daichi put his hand on the small of Tanaka’s back and pulled him close, just to plant a chaste kiss on Tanaka’s cheek. “Hey yourself.”

It took Tanaka a whole minute to compose himself. “Smooth, captain,” he finally squeaked. 

Daichi snorted. “So, what’s the big plan?”

Tanaka cleared his throat and opened up his arms to the sky. “The big plan, Daichi, is that we’re going to look at stars!”

“I didn’t take you for the star-gazing romantic-type,” Daichi said with a soft smile.

“Only for you,” Tanaka winked. 

Daichi brought a hand to his mouth, and Tanaka heard laughter spill through his fingers. “Wow. Okay. Already pulling out all the stops?”

“Not even close,” Tanaka said. “I could name every single constellation in the sky. Just for you.”

“Really now?” Daichi said, rolling his eyes.

“Yup. A certain other senpai told me that you might be in need some assistance.”

Daichi cocked his head, a serious look on his face. “Wait, what?” 

The grin fell from Tanaka’s face. “Suga. I asked him. I thought, that, uh, he said, you’d be into that? You know, astrology stuff?” 

Daichi furrowed his brow. “Astronomy? Suga?”

“Yeah, yeah, astronomy,” Tanaka said distractedly, trying to process the distorted look of confusion on Daichi’s face. “I thought.. I thought you’d be impressed, I mean, Suga-san said…”

“Fuck,” Daichi sighed.

Tanaka nodded slowly, trying not to give into the panic rising in his throat.

“And he was the one that gave you the idea for tonight?” Daichi asked. 

Tanaka nodded again and tried to inch away from Daichi, but he tightened his grip around Tanaka’s waist to stop him from fleeing. “Hey, stop,” he chided. “It’s just, I had a little incident in class where I gave a stupid answer and sensei kind of ripped me a new one. Everyone made fun of me for it. It was really embarrassing. Of course, Suga couldn’t help himself and it became a running joke. Sort of still is.”

“So I fucked everything up?” Tanaka winced. 

“What?” Daichi asked. “No, not at all,” he said quickly. “I think Suga was just trying to be funny. And you should know better than to go to him for dating advice, considering his current romantic interest.”

Red spiky hair, splotchy freckles, long teeth, and taped fingers flashed in Tanaka’s mind. He shuddered and looked up at Daichi. “It’s fine if, you know, you don’t want to stay here, we can do something else, anything else.”

They stood in silence for a couple minutes, Tanaka kicking the ground and wondering what his next move could possibly be. Maybe he could walk his bike alongside Daichi as he walked him home. Maybe he wouldn’t tell everyone what a spectacular failure the date had been. 

“Tanaka?” Daichi said quietly. 

“Yeah?” 

Daichi bit the inside of his lip. “I have a confession to make.”

“Huh?”

“I, uh,” Daichi started. “I caught a glimpse of you with flashcards before practice on Wednesday and it kind of surprised me, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you study on your own.” Tanaka gasped and Daichi hit him in the shoulder. “What? It’s true! So I asked Ennoshita what you were doing and he might’ve told me everything.”

“And you didn’t stop me?” Tanaka balked.

Daichi scratched the back of his head with the hand that wasn’t around Tanaka. “I wasn’t supposed to know, and I didn’t realize Suga told you to do it, and, honestly? I thought it was really sweet. I didn’t want to ruin your surprise.”

Every bit of tension Tanaka held in his shoulders dissolved into the night. “You think it was sweet, huh?” he teased. 

“Yup,” Daichi smiled. “And I’d love for my precious kouhai to teach me everything he knew about stars. Maybe I won’t make an ass out of myself next time.”

Tanaka looked down at their hands, fingers intertwined, their breaths shared. “I suppose I could show you a thing or two now, if you wanted...”

“You could, but someone forgot to check the weather.” Daichi pointed up at the sky. “It’s too cloudy to see anything.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Tanaka snorted. “All that work!”

“Well, I’d be fine taking a rain check on your newfound knowledge, maybe next time?”

Tanaka perked up. “Next time?”

Daichi punched him in the arm, hard, and then grabbed his hand to pull him to the bike rack. “What do you mean, next time? Of course there’ll be a next time. Don’t be an idiot. Now let’s get some food. My treat, you know, for our anniversary.”

“My hero!” Tanaka swooned.

 

When Tanaka burst into the practice gym on Monday morning, Suga poked his head around the corner and grinned. “So, how’d the startalk go, loverboy?”

“Aw, we didn’t get around to it,” Tanaka answered, proud of his sly grin. “But he said that I could teach him sometime, you know, because he needs it.”

Suga laughed. “So true. Daichi needs all the help he can get. Maybe next time he won’t make an ass out of himself in front of the entire class.”

“I can hear you guys!” Daichi shouted from across the gym, making Suga and Tanaka laugh even harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed day two!! I really love writing these two, you guys. See you tomorrow!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what happens when you're stood up at an arcade and you're about to leave, but a hot guy in a navy uniform catches your eye? Daichi thinks that maybe one more beer couldn't hurt. 
> 
> Written for day three of Daichi Rarepair Week: Video Games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No joke, this actually happened to me a couple years ago, so it's set in a very specific location. 
> 
> Posted here and on my [tumblr](http://jellyryans.tumblr.com/).

Daichi took a long sip of his beer and checked his phone. Quarter past the hour and no new messages. He laughed into his glass. 

Suga had been on his case for weeks, first with the needling about getting out of his apartment and enjoying himself once and awhile. ‘Do you even know how to have fun anymore?’ Suga had asked with a disturbing air of solemnity. And then, before Daichi knew it, he had online profiles littered across more dating sites than he cared to think about.

There was a reason Suga was the accounts manager at the firm; he could talk and wheedle and nudge and no one was safe from his will or whim. So, there he was, at the arcade downtown, right around the corner from their office building, expecting some internet guy to show up and give him a wild night. 

The guy had been the one to suggest the arcade, and it occurred to Daichi that he had never actually been there, despite it being so close to work and not at all far from his apartment building. He glanced around the bar, taking in the black-light art and the chipped resin of the countertop, but didn’t turn to survey the games set up behind him, or the people playing them.

A waiter walked by with a hot dog and Daichi peeked at the menu board. Fries, ice cream sundaes, corn dogs. An arcade for adults, complete with a menu for children, and he was stood up by a stranger.

It was ridiculous, and Daichi vowed that, the next time he saw him, he’d slam his foot down right in front of Suga and tell him no more, that this was absolutely the last time. He would finish his beer, and then he would leave and that would be that.

So he didn’t turn around when a boisterous group of people poured through the main doors of the arcade. Judging by the sound of them, they were guys, maybe Daichi’s age, maybe a little younger. The shouting got progressively louder as they filled the place and Daichi took another sip of his drink. He prayed that he’d be able to finish it and get the hell out before they terrorized the place. 

Daichi thought about slipping out the door, into the soggy Portland streets, slightly fuzzy from the beer, just enough to keep him warm for the walk home. He would stroll underneath the trees, lit up with leftover Christmas lights, until he reached his building, the golden glow of the lobby beckoning him in with open arms. Then, joy of joys, he could pop open another beer and continue drinking under a blanket in his quiet living room.

Someone jabbed him with a sharp elbow and Daichi lost his grip on the pint glass, spilling the last quarter of his beer all over the bar. He closed his eyes, counted to three, and turned around to face his attacker, but, when he turned, no one was there and, suddenly, he was at a loss for words.

The place was completely packed, but that wasn’t the surprise. No, Daichi was shocked to silence by the veritable sea of starched white. White pants, white shirts, white caps perched on shaved heads. 

When had he ever seen sailors in town? He didn’t even realize that was a thing. How did they get there? Sure, the river was deep, and ships used to pass through, but he didn’t know enough about the city’s maritime history, past or present, to make any assumptions. Was there some sort of naval base close by? Maybe he would look when he got home... 

But Daichi’s questions faded from his mind as his eyes followed the figures in white. He shifted awkwardly on the bar stool. These guys, Daichi realized, were hot. Really hot. They were hot and buff and, good lord, their pants were drawn so tightly around their asses that they looked like they had been spray painted on their bodies. Daichi swallowed hard. Yup. Definitely time to go. He put a couple dollars down and made to leave, but a shout from across the arcade caught his attention. 

He followed the source of the voice and Daichi realized immediately that he had made a mistake. A big one. A big tall one with biceps that bulged through the thin sleeves of his shirt and shoulders that made Daichi want to whimper. It was downright unfair how dramatically his chest tapered to his waist, the cotton best cinched around his hips and the shirt tucked in haphazardly. The guy was hunched over a game and unaware of Daichi’s ogling. He thanked the gods for that small mercy.

Out of curiosity, and perhaps against his better judgement, he squinted at the game. It was NBA Jam, an older game, and, amazingly, one of the few games that Daichi remembered from growing up. He also remembered being pretty damn good at it. 

The exit of the arcade wasn’t more than a couple steps from where he stood. His apartment and his beer were only a short walk away. But he was already at the arcade, and there was beer there... And it would be easier to stay. Quicker, easier, more convenient, Daichi reasoned. He would order one more beer, just to soothe his throat, which was mysteriously dry.

Instead of sitting at the bar to drink, he wandered toward the NBA Jam machine and hovered along the edge of the group that had gathered to watch the current game. He had no plan, not really. He simply enjoyed watching this guy hoot and holler over every point his team scored and cursing the sky for all the points scored against him. He liked the way the laughed, how he clapped his buddy on the back with large hands. 

He was enchanting, and Daichi was embarrassed to admit that he could watch him all night, that he had forgotten the actual reason he was there in the first place, that Suga might’ve been right all along, and, honestly, he wasn’t at all upset about it.

Soon enough, the game was over and the crowd erupted into cheers. More white outfits crowded around them and joined the guys at the joysticks. The movement distracted Daichi and he didn’t notice when the object of his curiosity had turned around. They stood face to face, not even a foot apart, and Daichi lost his words for the second time that evening. He tried to take a sip of his beer, but realized it was empty only after bringing it to his lips. 

The guy grinned at him. “Don’t think there’s anything left in there, captain”

He had to laugh at the guy’s goofy smile, and he liked the way the pet name rolled off his tongue so naturally. “Good observation,” Daichi quipped, matching his smile with a genuine one of his own.

“Wanna play a round?” The sailor asked as he motioned to the game behind him.

“I should get home,” Daichi said tentatively. Watching the guy was one thing, but being in close proximity was something else entirely, and Daichi wasn’t sure he was ready for it.

He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged, threatening the structural of his shirt as it stretched over his chest. “I mean, I’m pretty good, so I understand if you’re not man enough to challenge me.”

Daichi glowered and electricity sparked through the air. He never backed down from a challenge, especially not one from some cocky, young, handsome, guy in a skintight sailor uniform, with hypnotising dark skin, and, well, no, he wouldn’t back down. 

They stood next to each other, elbows touching. The screen lit up and music started to play. The guy looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “I’m Tanaka, by the way. Just in case you wanted to know the name of the guy who’s gonna crush you.”

“Daichi,” he growled, choosing the Chicago Bulls from the NBA lineup. “And we’ll see about that.”

The ball went up and Tanaka shouted into the screen. “It’s on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed this little bit of thirsty Daichi and the idea of Tanaka in a white navy uniform. Cuz I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> See you tomorrow!! Thanks for reading!!! I'm so overwhelmed by all of the amazing content from this week and all the Daichi love, and so grateful to be a part of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi and Tanaka want to go away for the weekend, they really do, but being a parent is complicated. Featuring beautiful girlfriends Saeko and Alisa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY LOVELIES!!! Hope you treat yourselves to a day of self-love. I know we deny ourselves, but we deserve it. You deserve it. 
> 
> Day Four prompt is pets!
> 
> Inspired, in part, by this [fan art](https://fundrazr.com/perks/2EZt7/), which I have on my wall and look at every day because it fills me with a joy that's hard to explain. Consider picking up one of the artist's prints to support them as they prepare to run the Boston Marathon.
> 
> Posted here and on my [tumblr](http://jellyryans.tumblr.com/).

With a strong push and a swift kick, Saeko physically ejected her younger brother and his partner from their own house. Once they were fully and completely out, she barricaded the door.

“Now get out and stay out!”

Alisa popped her head out from behind Saeko and leaned down to rest her chin on her shoulder. A hand appeared out of nowhere and snaked around Saeko’s waist. Alisa graced them with her brightest smile, catching the morning sun with her silver eyelashes, long against her cheek and glittering in the light. “Everything will be great, guys,” she reassured them.

Daichi grabbed Tanaka’s arm and pulled him off the ground and Tanaka rubbed his backside, looking over his shoulder to see if there was a tiny combat boot print on the seat of his pants. 

While Tanaka pulled at his pants to get a better look, Daichi shifted his travel bag over his shoulder. “You sure? You have the list of emergency contact numbers?”

Saeko put a finger to her lips and hummed, pretending to think about it, which made Alisa pout. “Don’t tease them, Saeyenka.”

“Ugh, onee-san,” Tanaka whined. “C’mon, we literally just went over it. Please tell me you haven’t lost it? Already? Please?” 

“Quit whining, Ryuu,” Daichi chided. “I got this.” He rummaged around in the front pocket of his bag and brandished a piece of computer paper. “It’s really no problem, here’s an extra one. And I emailed it to both of you. And Suga and Asahi,” he added. “Just in case.”

“Oh my gooooddd,” Saeko cried into her hands. “I’m kidding! Of course we have the list. Dai-kun, put that away right now.”

Daichi gripped the paper in his hand, not entirely convinced that Saeko wasn’t just placating them and not ready to put it back in his bag. 

Alisa bobbed her head in support of Saeko’s statement. “We do, I promise. I’ve even programmed them into my phone already.” She held up her phone as evidence.

He looked between the girls in his doorway, and then at the paper, before doing as he was told and slipping it carefully into the front pocket of his bag. Tanaka noticed his hesitation and elbowed Daichi in the side. “Babe, we can put the extra copy in the glove compartment. I’m sure the one in there is old anyway.” 

“Okay, babe,” Daichi said, emphasizing the pet name in a sarcastic drawl. 

“Seriously,” Tanaka replied. “It was good you printed out an extra copy. What if something happened to us, huh? We wouldn’t want the kids to be stranded with my sister forever.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daichi blushed. He didn’t need them, not really, but moments like these reminded he why he chose Tanaka, why he was grateful for every damn day that Tanaka chose him, too. 

“You know I’d fight for custody,” Saeko pointed out, interrupting Daichi’s internal gushing. 

Alisa nodded solemnly, at least as solemnly as her sunny disposition allowed. “You know we would.”

There was a pause in the conversation, so they all heard the scratching and bumping from inside the house, and Daichi went over their travel prep in his head, for the millionth time, to distract himself from the tugging on his heart. The car was packed and Tanaka filled the gas tank the night before. Saeko and Alisa were firmly planted in their house. They went over the updated contact information and confirmed that the information was readily available. They said their goodbyes just five minutes ago. They were ready.

“Are you sure we can’t say goodbye one last time?” Tanaka asked, quietly enough that only Daichi heard. His shoulders slumped uncharacteristically and he leaned into Daichi’s side.

Daichi bit back a groan. He desperately wanted to, but it was the first weekend they both had off in months. They had decided, together, that they needed the time alone, and the thought of shirtless Tanaka simmering in an onsen buoyed the last bit of decisive energy and courage he needed to thank the girls for helping them out that weekend and drag his pouting boyfriend to the car. 

Once they were on the road, in the dreadful quiet of the car, Daichi kept one hand on the steering wheel and reached over to hit Tanaka on the arm with the other. “I never realized you’d be so hard pressed to see me naked in a hot spring, you big baby.”

Tanaka pursed his lips into a smile that never boded well. “I’m not hard yet,” he replied with a wink, earning another, harder, punch. Tanaka pulled his arm out of Daichi’s reach and laughed until it dissolved into a quiet hum, and then silence.

Daichi glanced over at Tanaka, who stared out the window. “Radio?” He asked.

“Yeah, definitely,” Tanaka replied airily. 

Daichi turned it on and settled into the driver’s seat. Pretty soon, Tanaka succumbed to the deep and unwavering love of his own voice and Daichi listened to Tanaka belt American pop songs in his grade-school level English. He had always thought it was endearing, but would never want to give Tanaka that sort of ammo, so he pretended to hate it, which, in turn, egged Tanaka on further. Daichi considered it a win-win situation.

But, after about thirty minutes, the singing died down, and Tanaka leaned listlessly against the window and tapped rhythmically on his thigh. His phone buzzed, and Tanaka sprung up in his seat to wiggle his phone out of his back pocket. Almost as soon as he checked the screen, however, he deflated. “Just Yuu,” he sighed.

Tanaka typed out a reply and, when he was finished, he held the phone in his hands, stared at the dark screen, and worried his bottom lip. “You think if I text Alisa to send us pictures of the gang and tell her not to tell Saeko, that she would?”

That voice, the unsure one, killed Daichi. Tanaka was a lot of things, inappropriate pomp and ridiculous sense of humor and gigantic softie and full of deep love, and Daichi loved all of it. Similarly, he hated every second of his lost enthusiasm. He understood, but he hated it. “I think she’d send you pictures, but I don’t think she’d keep it from Saeko,” Daichi admitted.

Tanaka continued to stare at his phone. The look on his face was too much for Daichi to handle and he broke. “I miss them, too.”

This seemed to bring Tanaka out of his slump, and his cocky grin returned in full force, much to Daichi’s relief. “Yeah?”

“God, yes,” Daichi said with a heavy breath. “When I was working all that overtime last month, you have no idea how jealous I was that you were only on call and could be with them.” 

“Uh, I know exactly how jealous you were, because you told me at least once an hour,” Tanaka teased. “We did have an awesome time.”

“You spammed me with videos,” Daichi chuckled, as gently as he could manage. “It got me through the days.”

Tanaka prodded him in the side. “We might’ve had the best time ever, but they missed their dad.” 

The words pierced through his heart like an arrow. “We’re going to get through this weekend, Ryuu. We’re going to have some fun, soak in the onsen, and then go home.”

“Yeah,” Tanaka agreed with a shout. “Speaking of fun, remember when Hana ate some other kid’s ice cream at the park, right off the stick, and the kid was too embarrassed to stop her?”

Daichi snickered. “Or the time Momo-chan found that gross toy on the sidewalk and wouldn’t put it down? To the point where she growled at us every time we came near them?”

Tanaka threw his head back with a loud laugh. “I thought she would actually kill us when she realized we threw it away.”

“What about when Hiro snuggled into bed with us during the night our heater broke and almost smothered you?” Daichi added.

“So cute,” Tanaka laughed. “I have that picture of us framed on my desk, the one you took while I was being smothered in my sleep.”

Daichi shot him a quick look of disbelief. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah.” 

“I’ll be happy to go home,” Daichi added. “After, the weekend, I mean.”

Tanaka agreed with a full-body nod. “Yeah, me too. After the weekend. Definitely.”

They shared a look, one that happened often, one that only meant one thing. Daichi put his turn signal on, got off at the next exit, and turned the car around. 

When they pulled up in front of the house, Saeko peered out the front window and threw her hands up in defeat. But, as soon as they got out of the car, the front door opened and Hiro, Hana, and Momo bounded out of the house, tails wagging, fur flying, tongues out. Tanaka dropped to his knees on the front lawn and they swarmed him, licking his face, knocking him over, whining and barking in delight. Daichi took Hiro’s long nose in his hand and knelt next to Tanaka, one arm around the dog, the other around his boyfriend. 

Saeko leaned in the doorway, just like she did when they were leaving. “This is just sad.”

“You made it further than last time, though!” Alisa added from the living room window, now open, and gave them two thumbs up.

“Ya well,” Tanaka shrugged. “You’ll know what it’s like when you guys have kids.”

Alisa’s eyes lit up. “You hear that, Saeyenka, kids!”

“Dogs are not kids,” Saeko said defiantly.

“Okay,” Alisa hummed, still at the window. “So human kids then?” 

Saeko choked, her usual curtain of cool pooling around her feet. “You can’t say those things to me when we’re not even looking at each other!” 

“Then get over here,” Alisa giggled. 

In an instant, Saeko disappeared from the doorway, but neither Daichi nor Tanaka paid much attention. Daichi buried his face in Momo’s long, white hair, and took a breath. Tanaka scratched behind her ear and leaned close to whisper in Daichi’s ear. “I hope that promise of you wet, dripping, and very naked still stands.”

Daichi covered Momo’s floppy ears. “Not in front of the kids,” he hissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! Honestly? This might be my favorite of the prompts. Don't get me wrong, I've loved writing all of them, and I'm so excited to share them, but this idea made me all warm and fuzzy inside for WEEKS.
> 
> See you tomorrow! Hopefully you're enjoying! Take care of yourselves!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi had big dreams and he knew that achieving those dreams meant starting at the bottom, but figured no one else needed to bother until he was at the top. Turns out, he underestimated the person that loved him, who had dreams of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops. Things are pushed back a day. Life and all that fun stuff. Hopefully I'll be on my game for last two prompts, but the last one might take me an extra day or two. 
> 
> Also, if I made an ass out of myself re: getting university colors wrong, please let me know. I thought I looked it up and was all set, but you never know.

For as long as Daichi could remember, this was all he’d ever dreamed of.

The lights, the parquet floors, the smell of gym shoes, as Hinata had put it, the words full of lust and wonder. He stood in the team room with his gym bag open and the characters for University of Tokyo stared back at him, challenging him. 

‘Are you ready?’ They asked. Daichi nodded his head. It was their first match of the season, his first time playing at the university level. Well, his first time on the court as part of the university team. Unless something drastic happened, he would be sitting on the bench.

It was his first season on the time, and he had been a first-year before, watching the plays from the the sidelines before earning a place as a starter, before becoming captain, before taking Karasuno to Nationals. 

So maybe it wasn’t his dream, to sit on the bench, but he had to start somewhere. He knew that, and he knew the bench was only the beginning. 

He was excited, proud to wear the royal blue jerseys and practice gear, but he hadn’t shared much of his college volleyball experience with his friends back at Karasuno. He told everyone them that he made the team, because it wasn’t a secret, but he didn’t want to bother them with too many details. Ennoshita had enough on his plate and Tanaka, Daichi smiled to himself, was adapting to life as vice captain. 

It’s what he told himself, and what he told other people when they asked, but there was a small part of him that didn’t want to broadcast his position on the bench. They would notice at some point, on their own, because the matches were televised and he knew everyone would be watching. If they asked, he would tell him how proud he was to be a part it, that he was looking forward to working hard and earning his position. But he didn’t have to bring it up first. 

In the official locker room, blue jerseys surrounded him like an ocean, buoying his confidence. He slipped his own over his head for the first time and took a moment to run his hands over the fabric, cool against his skin, blue instead of black. 

He missed the black and orange, but butterflies from the blue and black were intoxicating. He couldn’t wait to stand on the court, to feel the energy not just from inside of him, but pouring into him from everyone on the court. He couldn’t wait for people to see him, to be proud of him. 

Daichi corrected himself. He couldn’t wait for Tanaka to see him, couldn’t wait for Tanaka to be proud of him.

He looked over his shoulder, like his teammates could hear his thoughts over the rustle of their socks and kneepads. Their relationship had taken a more serious serious the summer after Daichi graduated, and, even though he didn’t know how it started, he knew it was important. Tanaka was important. 

A lucky charm slipped out of his bag, and Daichi picked it up, gripping it tightly. Tanaka got it for him right before he left Miyagi for Tokyo. That weekend... Daichi ducked toward his locker as his face got redder and redder. He hoped that someday he would be able to remember that weekend without blushing.

The coach called them to attention and Daichi redirected his thoughts. Breakfast. Math homework. Internship applications. Calling his parents. Getting the mail at the university post office.

In a matter of seconds, he was calm enough to put the charm in his bag, zip it up, close his locker, and join the rest of the team for the pregame meeting. 

Out on the court, the starters settled into their positions. They won the first serve, so energy was high. The cheering squad roared above them and the shouts echoed off every surface in the stadium. The ball left the server’s hand and shot across the court, officially starting the game.

Their setter was on point, but he couldn’t help miss Kageyama, his scowl, ruthless efficiency, and, most importantly, the constant desire not only to be a better volleyball player, but also a better teammate. He wore the desire like a badge, so visible that even Tsukishima respected it. In front of him, their ace made a nice kill, breaking through the other blockers like it was nothing. He didn’t even flinch, and it almost made Daichi laugh, thinking about how different he was compared to Asahi. 

There was another kill, followed by another shout from the wing spiker that would most likely become the ace next season, and Daichi’s mind flitted quickly to Karasuno’s current ace and vice. If that had been Tanaka, Daichi chuckled to himself, he would’ve been twirling his shirt in his hands and shouting, not caring in the least that the game was televised nationally.

Just as he thought about Tanaka’s overused vocal chords, he was distracted by a shout from the crowd, one that echoed the sound that had just played in his mind. He tore his eyes from the court to look up at the crowd, but the lights made it impossible to see more than just headbands, pompoms, and cheer cones. 

His heart dipped without warning, despite the energy that thrummed right underneath his skin and snapped through the air around him. The size of their cheering squad was incredible, bigger than he had ever seen, but it still seemed incomplete. 

Again, he reminded himself that, with hard work, his dreams would become a reality. He would stand on the court again. He would invite people to games so that they could see him play . Maybe he could convince Tanaka to come to a couple games, assuming Tanaka didn’t go far away for school, or if he didn’t and could get time off. Daichi knew it was a lot to ask, knew it was too far in the future to even think about, but he allowed himself to dream.

Tokyo took the first set by a hair with a long, stressful volley, more than a couple near-impossible saves from their libero and veteran wing spiker. His position, Daichi caught himself thinking wistfully.

The second set was even more of a challenge, and Daichi saw the team getting tired, lagging. He cheered and made sure the guys heard him, and hoped it helped some. It was stupid, but he couldn’t help feel a little useless, and he missed his team. He missed Tanaka, who wouldn’t ever let them droop. Everyone always thought it was Daichi that kept them motivated, but he never believed it for a second.

Suga had actually been the one to suggest offering the captain role to Tanaka, but, when they approached him, Tanaka refused. Daichi had tried explaining how much his game sense had improved and how much the team had relied on him, for his mental and physical strength, but he didn’t budge. In the end, Daichi and Suga had to recruit the entire team to browbeat him into accepting the vice-captain spot.

The second set ended with another win, so Daichi shot up, cheered, and joined the team to bow to the cheer squad. They met briefly with their coach and filed back to the locker room. After meeting with the coach again, he was sent with another first year to clean up their bench, adrenaline still pumping through his system. 

The stands were mostly empty, the court vacant. There were still some voices in the background, but Daichi was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice.

He collected the towels and stray water bottles with a level of diligence that an outsider might label excessive. If he wanted to be on the court, he had to be his best self, no matter what he was doing.

It sounded like someone shouted his name, that familiar voice again, and his heart climbed to his throat. Daichi looked up, but didn’t see anyone. The lights were still on, blinding him temporarily, and there weren’t a whole lot of people. His heart slumped back into his ribcage. It made sense that he would imagine his voice. He missed him. Daichi shook his head and bent down to pick up a clipboard at his feet.

The other first year elbowed him in the side. “Already too good for your fans, Sawamura?” 

Daichi cocked a brow. “Huh?”

“There’s a bald guy waving his arms in the stands and calling your name? You’re really not hearing that?”

Daichi followed his finger to a spot in the stands and he had to fight back tears. Tanaka stood in the stangs, clad completely in blue, complete with headband, still hooting and hollering. He wasn’t imagining it after all. 

“Ah,” he croaked, and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I thought I heard something, but I didn’t know he’d be here.”

His teammate scanned the court and grinned in a way that Suga would’ve appreciated. “We’re pretty much done here, so do us all a favor and appease your screaming fan.” 

Daichi accepted the gesture with a clap on the shoulder and motioned for Tanaka to stay where he was while he took the stairs up to the bleachers. Instead of waiting, however, Tanaka met him at the top of the stairs. 

“What’re you doing here?” Daichi asked, out of breath.

Tanaka’s head jerked back in surprise. “What do you mean what am I doing here? It’s your first match!”

“But I never told you?”

“I know, which was kind of a dick move, because we’re boyfriends and all,” Tanaka said as he motioned between them. “I can use a computer to find things out, you know.”

Daichi raised his eyebrows. 

“Okay,” Tanaka admitted. “I might’ve asked Chikara to help me figure out the scheduling thing… What?” 

“Nothing.” Daichi bit back a laugh. “And you got the money for a train to Tokyo?”

Tanaka shrugged. “I’ve picked up a couple shifts with Ukai, on the weekends and stuff. Can’t be slacking off now that I’ve got a hot college athlete boyfriend to support.”

Daichi put his hands on his hips and glared at him, but the honest truth was that he didn’t know what to say. So, instead of talking, he just looked at Tanaka, Karasuno’s ace and vice captain, his boyfriend. Had he gotten taller since the last time Daichi had seen him? His hair was growing out, lighter than he would’ve thought. Curly. It had only been a few weekends, but, looking at him, it suddenly seemed like an eternity. 

All of a sudden, Daichi wanted to rip Tanaka’s shirt off with his teeth and he almost choked. His desire abated slightly when embarrassment crept up and draped itself over Daichi’s shoulders like a wet blanket. “I’m flattered…And it’s,” Daichi swallowed, “really, really good to see you. Amazing, actually. But you came all the way out here just to watch your former captain warm the bench. I’m sorry.”

Tanaka jerked his head back and screwed up his face, like he used to do when he would find out about exams that had somehow slipped his memory. He stayed like that, blinking slowly. 

“What?” Daichi asked. “Tanaka?” He started worry. “Ryuu?” 

Tanaka grabbed Daichi’s hand so suddenly that Daichi let out an undignified yelp and dragged him into the hallway behind them, deserted now that the game was over and the stadium was mostly empty. In one swift movement, Tanaka pushed Daichi against a wall and grabbed his practice shirt. He leaned into to Daichi so that he could whisper in his ear. Tanaka’s warm breath on his neck made his blood boil and scurry south. “You call this nothing?” Daichi’s breath hitched. “Blue’s a good color on you, Daichi. So fucking hot.” 

“Oh.” Daichi licked his lips, his confidence returning in droves. Tanaka had a way of doing that to him. “That’s quite the compliment,” Daichi nipped at his neck. “Coming from Karasuno’s ace and all.”

“Daichi,” Tanaka cried. “You can’t do this to me in public!”

“Hey! You started it!” Daichi said with a quiet laugh. He ran his thumb along the sharp edge of Tanaka’s hip with one hand and used the other cup his cheek, Tanaka’s hair under his fingertips. He pulled Tanaka in for a deep kiss and, when they parted, he took a heavy sigh of relief. “Thanks for coming,” he whispered, hoping that he was able to convey his gratitude with the tone of his voice and the warm press of their bodies. “Someday I’ll play and it’ll actually be worth the visit. Everyone’s dreams will come true,” he joked.

“Dreams will come true, huh? How do you know mine haven’t?” 

Daichi rolled his eyes. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

“With pleasure,” Tanaka grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!! Hope you're enjoying!! See you (hopefully) either tonight or tomorrow!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi signed up for a nice day in the park with his boyfriend, his boyfriend's sister, and her girlfriend, but sibling rivalry rears its ugly head. Daichi and Alisa take cover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone loves a good dose of sibling rivalry. Girlfriends appear. Enjoy!

“We are way hotter than you guys. No question,” Saeko barked. Her voice was so sharp that a couple walking by them on the path jumped in surprise. They took one look at the challenge in her eyes, boring holes through the guy in front of her, and picked up their pace until they were well out of the line of fire.

“Nuh-uh, no. No way,” Tanaka fumed, arms crossed over his chest and chin raised high. “We’re way hotter. Look at us!” He pulled up his shirt sleeves and flexed for the whole park to see. He looked over his shoulder to Daichi, looked at his bicep, and then returned his eyes to Daichi. When he didn’t get the hint, Tanaka raised his eyebrows and nodded towards Daichi’s arms, already exposed in his sleeveless shirt. Daichi pretended not to notice, but Tanaka didn’t lose heart. He kept up the pose.

Saeko crossed her own arms, mirroring her brother’s former position of rebuttal, and rolled her eyes. “Get a grip!” She sneered. “You know what’s hot? Soft, ample skin. And I don’t want to toot my own horn, but...” She pushed up her bra with both hands, displacing the cleavage that had already been spilling over her shirt.

“Aw, come on!” Tanaka shouted from behind the hands that covered his eyes. “I don’t want to see that!”

She smirked and put her hands on her hips. “Aw, Ryuu-kun can dish it, but he can’t take it,” she sang. 

When Tanaka felt like it was safe to uncover his eyes, he lowered them. The confidence on his sister’s face made his blood boil. “Don’t look too happy, onee-san. Have you seen Daichi’s thighs?”

“Mmm, I have,” Saeko hummed. “I go to your matches, not that you ever thank me,” she scolded. “Admittedly, they’re pretty hot. How he ended up with you,” she poked Tanaka in the chest with enough force to almost knock him over, “is a still a mystery. And I’ve seen you peeping on Alisa’s legs, ya big creep.”

Alisa laughed through her fingers and winked at Tanaka, making Daichi snort behind him. Tanaka groaned and started flailing his arms. “That was a low blow! And you admitted to creeping on my boyfriend first! Which means that you lost!”

“What the hell kind of logic is that?” Saeko spit.

They started to argue and the world melted away, as it always did when the Tanaka siblings got into it. Daichi looked at Alisa, her long arm still wrapped effortlessly around Saeko’s waist. She met his gaze and gifted him with a small close-lipped smile and a shrug.

A bell, somehow ringing above the shouting match, caught Daichi’s attention. Across the park, an ice cream vendor rang the bell on his handlebars. A couple of kids jumped off the swings and sprinted towards him. 

Unsurprisingly, Tanaka and Saeko were too deep into their ridiculous argument to notice, so Daichi caught Alisa’s attention again and motioned to the cart with his index finger over his lips. She gasped, then nodded her approval. Daichi counted to three with his fingers and, on three, they both slipped away from their partners and walked toward the cart, only looking back a couple times to see if their partners had noticed. 

As they walked, Daichi looked up at the sky, deep blue, not a cloud in sight, perfect. The midday sun warmed his face and a light breeze tousled the hair against his forehead. “I thought that, for once, we’d be able to all go out together and enjoy a nice day without it turning into a competition,” he lamented.

Alisa nudged Daichi’s shoulder and wisps of her hair tickled Daichi’s bare shoulder. A ray of sun glittered in her eyes, somehow highlighting the most beautiful shades of both blue and brown. “I don’t know. It’s kind of sweet, don’t you think?” She asked. 

“Eh, I guess,” Daichi responded, his voice lacking conviction.

“Hearing her talk so highly of herself is wonderful,” Alisa admitted. “And brothers and sisters are the best!”

Daichi hummed. “Siblings are something else. Is this how it is when you hang out with Lev and Yaku?”

“Noo,” she said loudly, waving her hands in front of her for emphasis. “Lyovochka’s too sweet to yell at anyone.”

Daichi side-eyed her. “You mean Yaku keeps him in line?”

“Not even! He and Saeko are thick as thieves. Lev ends up trying to crawl all over him to get his attention back.”

“Like a six-foot tall lap dog?” Daichi joked. 

Alisa clapped. “Yes! It’s so cute! And, honestly,” she leaned down slightly to whisper in Daichi’s ear, “I think she likes that he’s a little more, um, Saeko-sized.”

Daichi suppressed the laugh as long as he could, but pretty soon they were both giggling, Daichi with a hand on his knee and Alisa with hers on Daichi’s shoulder for support.

He knew it meant a lot to Tanaka that they all hang out, even when sibling rivalry got the better of him, so he told Alisa as such as they got to the ice cream cart, and apologized. A delicate blush bloomed on her cheeks and she told him not to worry about it, that Saeko had been looking forward to it all week. Daichi treated her to ice cream and they considered taking bets on when the Tanaka siblings would notice their absence.

And, just as they started to joke about it, the hair on the back of Daichi’s neck prickled. It did the same thing when he was Karasuno’s captain and a certain wing spiker was doing something stupid, like finely-tuned radar. He turned to where he left his boyfriend and was met with both Tanaka siblings staring at them, jaws halfway to the ground.

Alisa noticed, too, and beckoned them to the cart with a graceful flick of her wrist. Saeko and Tanaka broke out into a sprint down the path, pushing each other out of the way. Daichi had never seen Tanaka run so fast and he was duly impressed.

Tanaka got there first, but doubled over to catch his breath, and reached out to grip Daichi’s thigh. Daichi furrowed his brow in confusion, but patted Tanaka’s back as he heaved into the ground. Saeko arrived moments later. She clutched her stomach and took short, labored breaths and leaned into Alisa.

Tanaka was also the first to regain his faculties and that, plus getting to the cart first, filled Daichi with a weird sense of accomplishment, like the excessive drills he assigned back in volleyball practice did something for the guy. 

“You two seem real cozy over here,” Tanaka said slowly, eyes scanning Daichi’s face.

Saeko huffed between breaths. “Tell me about it. You guys look too good together.”

“Too good,” Tanaka parroted. 

Daichi grabbed Tanaka’s hand to pull him close and pinched his cheek. “We do, don’t we?”   
Tanaka whined from the pain in his cheek but didn’t move away. “Too bad I’m into buff clowns,” Daichi said as he leaned in to kiss the spot on his cheek that was just under his fingers, recently freckled from the sun.

“I most certainly am a buff clown,” Tanaka bragged. “A hot one.”

“Definitely,” Daichi whispered. He nuzzled the spot right under Tanaka’s ear until Tanaka closed his eyes and wrapped his arm around Daichi’s neck. 

Alisa glanced down Saeko. “And it’s just too bad I’m into badass blondes,” she blurted loudly. 

Tanaka and Daichi blinked at her, and Saeko howled with laughter. 

“What?” She squealed in embarrassment. “I can’t join in now?”

Saeko stood on her tiptoes to boop Alisa on the nose, laughter still in her voice. “Babe, you can join in any time you damn well please.”

“I’m just glad we’re all on the same page,” Daichi said, relieved, to Tanaka, who had two ice creams in his hands.

“Can’t believe you like chocolate,” he mumbled as he handed the treat to his sister.

Saeko snatched the ice cream out of Tanaka’s hand. “Only dumb people like strawberry,” she taunted.

“What the hell? Strawberry is the best flavor! Hands down!”

“And here we go again,” Daichi grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K! Wow! It's over. Sorta. Soooo, prompt 7, the merfolk AU, got WAY out of control as I was writing it, so I'm going to post it at the end of the weekend as a separate story. It's gonna be angsty. Like, real angsty. You've been warned. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!!! Hope this gave you at least some of the pleasure that it has given me. Writing these two kids has been such a joy and it's been wonderful sharing. 
> 
> Hearts all around and see you in a couple days!!


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